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Adam Ferner's engaging and personal book explores the ethical dimensions of childcare in a world riven by conflict and inequality. He argues that widespread attitudes towards biological parenthood contribute to these worsening crises and examines the liberatory potential of foster-care and adoption.
Written in a clear and jargon-free style, the book is informed by both Ferner’s training as a philosopher and his extensive experience as a child support worker. His analysis foregrounds the concerns of young people largely marginalized by society, and he argues against the prevailing orthodoxy that hope is a necessary element of childcare. The book challenges us to look afresh at our everyday notions of parenthood, childcare and having children, and to question the dominant ethos of the family.
— Sophie Lewis, author of Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation
In Unhappy Families, Ferner lays bare the inherent contradictions and inconsistencies in how society thinks about raising children. He draws from a wide range of sources to deftly combine the personal and the political in this thorough, compelling and accessible book.
— Rageshri Dhairyawan, author of Unheard: The Medical Practice of Silencing
Fascinating, humane, and critical – whatever your views on children, Ferner will cause you to think anew.
— Darren Chetty, University College London
Introduction: the day unit
1. Why make babies?
2. Healthy development
3. State intervention
4. A duty to foster
5. "Children are the future"
6. What makes families racist?
7. Ethnic matching
8. Wages for childcare
9. Hope for the future
Epilogue: happily ever after